ESSEN, Germany: February 15, 2017. DB Schenker is to invest US$25 million for a minority interest in online shipping marketplace uShip.

The company is using uShip technology to connect 30,000 European truckers via an on line freight brokerage platform called Drive4Schenker. The service launched in Germany this month.

"Platform economics and the 'Uberization' of everything—including trucking—have added fuel to this movement, as have forward-thinking major logistics providers like DB Schenker," said Matt Chasen, founder and CEO of uShip.

"It's exciting to be at the epicenter of this seismic shift as old-school shipping methods like phone calls, faxes, spreadsheets and whiteboards become a thing of the past."

Founded in 2003, the uShip marketplace has facilitated over one million deliveries, with service providers earning nearly US$1 billion.

Based in Austin, TX and Amsterdam, the company has local presence in 19 countries and seen pick up or delivery in 138; 3.5 million registered shipping customers including 400,000 business shippers; and 800,000 registered carriers worldwide.

"Expanding our successful partnership will expedite and streamline transport management and help us, as a market leader in European land transport, to handle even larger volumes of freight," said Schenker CEO Jochen Thewes. "We also intend to quickly develop and tap new opportunities to grow outside of our traditional business models."

Thewes added the investment in uShip was the company's largest in a digital logistics company.

uShip CEO Mike Williams, who took up his position on February 13 this year, said the past 12 months had shown the two companies "are a great fit when it comes to taking the lead in this macro transformation, and we're thrilled to deepen our partnership through its strategic investment".